What to eat before a race

How much you can eat depends on when you eat it. · 2 min read · Updated September 30, 2026

In short: The guideline for race-morning breakfast is 1–4 g of carbs per kg of body weight, 1–4 hours before the start. Here’s a table for your weight, sample breakfasts, and how to rehearse it.

How we made this guide: we built it from the research below and checked every number against it: ACSM, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics & Dietitians of Canada joint position stand (2016).

Most race-morning advice stops at “eat something familiar.” The useful part is the amount, and that depends on how long before the start you eat.

The guideline

For exercise longer than about an hour, the ACSM joint position stand (Thomas, Erdman & Burke, 2016) suggests 1–4 g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight, eaten 1–4 hours before. This is one meal, not one every hour: pick when you’ll eat, and the amount depends on that timing. For example, if you weigh 150 lb and eat 4 hours before the start, that’s about 270 g of carbs in that one breakfast; eat 1 hour before and it’s about 70 g. The more time before the start, the more you can comfortably eat. Roughly 1 g/kg for every hour of lead time works as a rule of thumb.

Carbs by weight and timing

Body weight	Eating 4 hours before	3 hours before	2 hours before	1 hour before
110 lb	~200 g	~150 g	~100 g	~50 g
130 lb	~240 g	~180 g	~120 g	~60 g
150 lb	~270 g	~200 g	~140 g	~70 g
170 lb	~310 g	~230 g	~150 g	~80 g
190 lb	~340 g	~260 g	~170 g	~90 g

Each column is the total for that one breakfast, from the 1–4 g/kg, 1–4 h range. If your stomach is sensitive, stay toward the lower end.

What those amounts look like

~60 g: a plain bagel with honey, or a banana and a slice of toast with jam.
~120 g: a bagel with honey, a banana and a glass of juice.
~180 g: the above plus a bowl of cereal with milk.

Many runners keep race breakfast low in fiber and fat so it’s digested by the start line. Coffee is fine if you already drink it before runs.

Can’t face food at 5 a.m.?

Eat less, closer to the start. A bagel about an hour out still counts, and liquid carbs like juice are easier on a nervous stomach.

Rehearse it

Eat your planned race breakfast, at your planned time, before several long runs first. Write down what you ate, when, and how the run felt. The version that works becomes race day. We built My Track Record so logging that breakfast is one spoken sentence, and we estimate its carbs for you.

Log every rehearsal breakfast in one sentence.
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By Andrew, founder of My Track Record. Andrew has been active all of his life across a variety of sports and continues to stay active through climbing, swimming, weight training, golfing, snowboarding, and more. He built My Track Record so logging food and training takes one spoken sentence and can support any activity. He puts these guides together from published sports science research cited on each page. About Andrew

Sources

Thomas DT, Erdman KA, Burke LM. Nutrition and Athletic Performance: joint position statement of the American College of Sports Medicine, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Dietitians of Canada. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2016;48(3):543–568. Source

General information for healthy adult runners, not medical advice. If you have a medical condition, are pregnant, or have a history of disordered eating, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian before changing how you eat or use caffeine.